But the Opposition said there was no question of any consensus because the two BJP leaders did not mention any name
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday gave a clear indication that it wants its own candidate to be sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when Union ministers Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss the election of India's next President.
The two ministers told Gandhi that her Congress party has been sending its nominees to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and it was now Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turn to decide the next President, sources said. Both ministers were at Gandhi's official residence here, 10 Janpath, for about 30 minutes.
The two ministers also met CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury. But the Opposition said there was no question of any consensus because the two BJP leaders did not mention any name.
"We expected that the BJP leaders will come up with at least one name for the Congress to take a call on that. But they did not, and instead asked us to propose names," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said after the meeting. In case of no consensus candidate, the Presidential election will take place on July 17.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who was also at the meeting, said the BJP leaders only sought cooperation. "Since they have not given names, there is no question of consensus," he said.
Yechury said the ministers were only on a consultation mission and were not in a position to disclose any names. He said there were no sincere efforts to explore a consensus candidate as the talks were "more like a PR exercise." He said his party wants a candidate with "impeccable secular credentials" to be the next President.
"They sought our support. I told them that support can be given only to a particular individual," he said.
At both meetings, the two ministers indicated that they will come up with a name after three or four days. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is the third member of a negotiation team set up by BJP President Amit Shah. Jaitley is in South Korea.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are of the view that approaching different parties with names without knowing their views may not be appropriate, government sources said. The government and the BJP would like to finalise the candidate before PM Modi leaves for the US on June 24.
Rajnath and Naidu also met senior BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi, besides CPI leaders Sudhakar Teddy and D Raja. Naidu also met SP's Mulayam Singh, BSP's SC Mishra and spoke to BSP chief Mayawati on phone.
The Opposition parties later decided to wait until the government reveals its cards. They left it for the Congress President to call a meeting and decide the matter.
Nominations that began on Wednesday are to go on till June 28 and so there is enough time for both sides to decide their candidates.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), though falling short in numbers, is confident to get the backing of a few regional parties.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena said it would recommend eminent agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan's name for the President's post if the BJP was not ready for the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's candidature.
Bhagwat, on the other hand, had a one-hour luncheon meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The RSS chief met the President for the first time. President Mukherjee completes his term on July 24.
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